The Commissioners to the President of the Congress

The last letter which We have had the Honour to write jointly to Congress, was of
the Twentyeth of July,2 and as We have Sent Several Copies of it by different opportunities, We hope one
of them at least will come Safe to hand.

Since our last there has been an important Action at Sea, between two very powerfull
Fleets, in which, in our Opinion the French had a manifest and great Advantage, but
as all the News Papers in Europe are full of this Transaction, and We have taken in
our seperate Capacities, every opportunity, to transmit these Papers to Congress,
We think it needless to be more particular, concerning that Event, in this Letter.3

The French Fleet, on the seventeenth, of <this> last Month, again put to sea <but whether the British Fleet was out, or not We have not yet learnt>, and on the twenty Second, Admiral Keppell Sailed.

By the best Intelligence from <England> London, the Populace are amused, and the public Funds are Supported, by Hopes, given
out, by Administration, of Peace, by an Acknowledgment of American Independance; but
as the Credulity of that <infatuated and abandoned> Nation has no Bounds, We can draw no Inference from this General Opinion, that such
is the Intention of Government. We suppose this Rumour to be a Consequence of the
insidious, Determination of the Cabinet to propose Independance on Condition of a
Seperate Peace.

We are here, at this Moment, in a State of the most anxious and critical suspense,
having heard nothing from the Compte D'Estaing, nor from America since the <beginning> Eleventh of July.4

<This Suspense is unfortunate for Us, in our Negotiations for Loans of Money which
we are very sensible, is a Subject of the last Importance.>

Congress will be informed by our Mr A. Lee, what success he has had in his Negociations
at the Court of Spain.5

We have taken Measures in Amsterdam for borrowing Money of the Dutch but what Success
We shall have We cannot yet say.

We have also asked Leave of this Gouvernement to borrow Money, in this Kingdom; but
having no answer, We cannot say whether We shall have Permission or not.

We have, Yesterday6 applied for a Continuation of the Quarterly { 43 } Payment of 750 thousand Livres. What the answer will be We know not. If it is in the
Negative, the Consequence, must be very plain, to Congress and to Us. <We must leave this Kingdom, if our Crediters and the Crediters of the United States
will permit Us.>

It is at all Times wisest and safest both for the Representative and his Constituents,
to be <open,> candid, <and Sincere.>; and We should think ourselves criminal, <in a very high [degree?],> if We should disguise, our just Apprenhensions. Congress will then be pleased to
be informed, that all the Powers of Europe, are now armed or arming themselves, by
Land or sea or both, as there seems to be an universall apprehension of a General
War. Such is the situation of European Nations, at least, that no one can arm itself
without borrowing Money. Besides this The Emperor and the King of Prussia are at actual
War,—all this together has produced this Effect, that <England,> France, England, the Emperor, Spain, Prussia, at least are borrowing Money, and there
is not one of them, that We can learn but offers, better Interest than the United States have offered. <Can We reasonably hope to succeed?>7 There can be no Motive then but Simple Benevolence, to lend to Us.

Applications have frequently been made to Us, by Americans, who have been Some time
abroad, to administer the oath of allegiance to the United States and to give them
Certificates that they had taken such oaths. In three Instances We have yeilded to
their Importunity. In the Case of Mr. Moor of New Jersey, who has a large Property
in the East Indies which he designs to transfer, immediately to America—in the Case
of Mr. Woodford of Virginia a Brother of General Woodford, who has been Sometime in
Italy, and means to return to America with his Property, and Yesterday, in the Case
of Mr. Montgomery of Philadelphia, who is settled at Alicant in Spain, but wishes
to send Vessells and Cargoes of his own Property to America.8

We have given our opinions to these Gentlemen, frankly that such Certificates are
in Strictness legally void, because, there is no Act of Congress which expressly gives
Us Power to administer Oaths.

We have also given two or three Commissions, by means of the Blanks with which Congress
intrusted Us,—one to Mr. Livingston and one to Mr. Amiel, to be Lieutenants in the
Navy.9 And in these Cases We have ventured to Administer the oaths of Allegiance. We have
also in one Instance administered an Oath of Secrecy to one of our <Clerks> Secretaries10 and perhaps it is necessary to administer such an oath as well as that of allegiance
to all Persons whom We may be obliged, in the extensive Correspondence We maintain,
to employ.

We hope We shall not have the Dissapprobation of Congress for { 44 } what in this Way has been done: but We wish for explicit Powers and Instructions upon
this Head.

There are among the Multitude of Americans, who are scattered about the various Parts
of Europe, Some, We hope many, who are excellent Citizens, who wish to take the oath
of allegiance and to have some Mode prescribed by which they may be enabled to send
their Vessells and Cargoes to America, with Safety from their own Friends American
Men of War and Privateers.

Will it not be practicable for Congress, to prescribe some Mode of giving Registers
to ships, Some mode of Evidence to ascertain the Property of Cargoes, by which it
might be made appear to the Cruisers and to Courts of Admiralty, that the Property
belonged to Americans abroad. If Congress should appoint Consulls, could not some
Power be given to them. Or would Congress impower their Commissioners, or any other?

Several Persons from England have applied to Us to go to America.11 They profess to be Friends to Liberty, to Republics, to America. They wish to take
their Lot with her—to take the oath of allegiance to the states and to go over with
their Property. We hope to have Instructions, upon this Head, and a Mode pointed out
for Us to proceed in.

In Observance of our Instructions to inquire into Mr. Holkers Authority,12 We waited on his Excellency the Compte de Vergennes, presented him with an Extract
of the Letter concerning him, and requested to know, What Authority Mr. Holker had.
His Excellencys Answer to Us was that he was surprized, for that Mr. Holker had no
Verbal Commission from the Ministry. But that Mr. Vergennes being informed that Mr.
Holker was going to America, desired him to write to him from Time to Time <that> the State of Things and the Temper <and designs> of the People.

We have given orders to Mr. Bondfield at Bourdeaux, to ship to America Twenty Eight
Twenty four Pounders and 28 Eighteens, according to our Instructions. By his answer
to Us, it will take some little time, perhaps two or three Months, to get these Cannon,
at a good Rate and in good Condition.

Our Distance from Congress, obliges Us very often to act, without express Instructions
upon Points in which We should be very happy to have their orders. One Example of
which is the Case of the American prisoners in England. Numbers have been taken and
confined in Goals. Others, especially Masters of Vessells are set at Liberty. We are
told there are still 500 in England. Many have escaped from their { 45 } Prisons, who make their Way, to Paris, Some by the Way of Holland, others by Dunkirk,
and others by means of Smuggling Vessells in other Parts of this Kingdom. They somehow
get Money to give to Guards, in order to escape. Then they take up Money in England,
in Holland, in Dunkirk and elsewhere, to bear their Expences to Paris. There they
apply to Us, to pay those past Expences, and to furnish them Money to defray their
Expences to Nantes, Brest and other seaport towns. When arrived there they apply to
the American Agent for more Money. <For this> Besides this Bills of their drawing are brought to Us from Holland and other Places.
All this makes a large Branch of Expence. We have no orders to Advance Money in these
Cases. Yet We have ventured to advance considerable sums. But the Demands that are
coming upon Us from all Quarters are likely to exceed, so vastly, all our Resources,
that We must request possitive Directions, whether We are to advance Money to any
Prisoners, whatever? If to any whether to, Masters and seamen of private Merchant
Vessells, and to officers and Crews of Privateers, as well as to officers and Men
in the Continental service. We have taken unwearied Pains, and have put the states
to very considerable Expence, in order to give Satisfaction to these People, but all
We have done, has not the Effect. We are perpetually told, of discontented Speeches,
and We often receive peevish Letters, from these Persons, in one Place and another,
that they are not treated here with so much Respect as they expected, nor furnished
with so much Money as they wanted.13 We should not regard these Reflections if We had the orders of Congress.

1. This letter appears in JA's Letterbook between letters dated 28 and 30 Aug. The delay in completing it may
have resulted in part from a desire to explain more fully the Commissioners' dealings
with Americans in Europe, to obtain additional information on the naval situation,
and to observe the progress of the effort to obtain a Dutch loan. The congress, however,
probably never received the letter: no recipient's copy has been found, the copies
in the PCC have their origin in either JA's or Arthur Lee's Letterbook (PCC, Nos. 84, I; 85; 102, IV; 105), and there is no reference in the JCC to a letter of this date. The letter may have been among those that the Commissioners
entrusted to Jonathan Loring Austin on his return to America, but which Austin, upon
arriving at St. Eustatius, transferred to another ship which was later captured (Austin
to the Commissioners, 27 Oct. 1778, and to JA, 7 June 1779, both below; Austin to Franklin, 10 June 1779, Cal. Franklin Papers, A.P.S., 2:92).

3. The battle off Ushant between the fleets of d'Orvilliers and Keppel on 27 July. The
return of the fleets to sea in August produced no major engagement (Dull, French Navy and Amer. Independence, p. 122).

4. Apparently a reference to the letters, newspapers, and other documents, including
the ratified Franco-American treaties, that were received around that date.

5. Possibly a reference to Lee's letter of 31 Aug. to the Committee for Foreign Affairs
concerning subjects to be taken up { 46 } in negotiations with Spain (Wharton, ed., Dipl. Corr. Amer. Rev., 2:699). In any case, the reference was not made more specific or put in the past
tense in any of the later copies of this letter.

6. That is, in the Commissioners' letter to Vergennes of 28 Aug. (vol. 6:401–404). The reference was not corrected in later copies of the letter.

7. Apparently the letter ended at this point on 29 Aug. The remainder of the letter has
no substantial deletions and the last sentence of this paragraph and all that follow
appear to be written with a different pen.

8. William Moore applied to the Commissioners in a letter of 20 June and took an oath of allegiance on the 23d. Thomas Woodford took his oath on 20 Aug.
Robert Montgomery wrote to Benjamin Franklin on 5 April and again in May and took
his oath on 8 Sept. (vol. 6:225; Franklin, Papers, 26:242–243; Cal. Franklin Papers, A.P.S., 1:432; 4:264, 270, 272).

9. Muscoe Livingston was commissioned on 19 April (vol. 6:30; Franklin, Papers, 26:316; JCC, 20:769), and Peter Amiel on or about 10 Aug., for an oath of allegiance of that
date is in PPAmP: Franklin Papers.

12. For John Holker and his mission to America, see the Committee for Foreign Affairs
to the Commissioners, 21 June (vol. 6:227–228). Attached to that letter is a note giving the substance of this
paragraph.